GAME Ireland holding sit-in protests

Several GAME Ireland stores are holding sit-ins this morning after all of the retailers stores in the Republic were closed following it entering administration yesterday.

Eurogamer‘s posted a report on a sit-in at a store in Monaghan, where staff held a sit-in all night.

It follows a report on MCV that claims administrator PWC will pay staff its March wages, but nothing beyond for April or redundancy pay. Instead, it’s advising staff to claim state redundancy.

“We know our jobs are gone, we just want what we are entitled to, as well as our customers who in some cases have a couple of €100 on gift cards in which they’ve been told they cannot redeem,” said staff member Ben Lamb O’Sullivan.

MCV’s also reporting at least one sit-in is happening in a Dublin branch, with state broadcaster RTE reporting of a sit-in in Cork (thanks, Fin). We’re currently looking into if there’s anymore sit-ins happening.

GAME had 14 stores in the Republic, with 121 jobs lost. Stores included Dublin, Cork, Galway, Athlone and Limerick, as well as the Monaghan store from the EG story.

In the North, 13 stores have closed with the loss of 110 jobs, according to RTE. Some of the stores closed included two branches in Belfast, Enniskillen, Ballymena, Lisburn and more to name a few.

Only five stores remain open in the North: two in Belfast, along with others in Derry, Newtownards and Craigavon.